Chris Hall | Swansea University (original) (raw)
Papers by Chris Hall
Open Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2023
This paper examines whether teachers in universities can learn from the practices and structures ... more This paper examines whether teachers in universities can learn from the practices and structures of jazz music as they try to prepare students for an uncertain future. It outlines the fundamental characteristics of jazz and how these have been applied by jazz musicians. The paper focuses on four of the building blocks of jazz: improvisation, mistakes, collaboration and leadership, and examines how these translate to university teaching. It concludes that effective learning, like the best jazz, is collaborative and occurs where the freedom to improvise and make mistakes is integral. Additionally, as with the best jazz bands, there must be some structure where the teacher, although leading, is fully involved in the collaborative act of discovery with the learners. The author argues that the lessons learned from jazz should be incorporated in professional development programmes for new university teachers.
Survey Report, University of Swansea. Retrieved …, 2006
Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evid... more Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evidence a 6% decrease in student entry for the academic year 2012/13 compared with 2011/12, it appears timely to consider what students expect to gain from attending university. Such expectations potentially frame their first year experiences – positively or
negatively – which, according to the literature, largely determine performance, with obvious implications for attrition (Upcraft et al. 2005). In the UK, research has positioned the first year experience as being critical for
laying down the foundations of academic study and for developing skills in addressing student employability (Ali 2012). Furthermore, research undertaken for the Australian Learning and Teaching council suggests the first year experience needs to be viewed as ‘transition pedagogy’, involving an approach that scaffolds and mediates the first year learning experience, aiming to support student engagement, success and retention (Kift and Nelson 2005). This paper considers the qualitative findings from an online
pre- and post- entry student survey during the academic year 2012/2013, one of the aims of which was to examine student expectations of what they hoped to gain from attending university in the UK. The methodology adopted an interpretivist stance with the use of constructivist grounded
theory (adapted from the work of Charmaz 2006), in order to explore the research question: ‘What do you expect to gain from attending university?'
Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evid... more Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evidence a 6% decrease in student entry for the academic year 2012/13 compared with 2011/12, it appears timely to consider what students expect to gain from attending university. Such expectations potentially frame their first year experiences – positively or negatively – which, according to the literature, largely determine performance, with obvious implications for attrition (Upcraft et al. 2005). In the UK, research has positioned the first year experience as being critical for laying down the foundations of academic study and for developing skills in addressing student employability (Ali 2012). Furthermore, research undertaken
for the Australian Learning and Teaching council suggests the first year experience needs to be viewed as ‘transition pedagogy’, involving an approach that scaffolds and mediates the first year learning experience, aiming to support student engagement, success and retention (Kift and Nelson 2005). This paper considers the qualitative findings from an online
pre- and post- entry student survey during the academic year 2012/2013, one of the aims of which was to examine student expectations of what they hoped to gain from attending university in the UK. The methodology adopted an interpretivist stance with the use of constructivist grounded
theory (adapted from the work of Charmaz 2006), in order to explore the research question: ‘What do you expect to gain from attending university?’
Although considerable time and effort has been expended in establishing and promoting the use of ... more Although considerable time and effort has been expended in establishing and promoting the use of technology in higher education, it has been argued that many universities have been unable to make any significant improvements beyond those of a small group of innovators. This paper describes the experiences at Swansea University in Wales as they tackled this situation by attempting to utilise and harness the knowledge and experience of the wider academic community and build a Community of Practice around the area of e-Learning.
Conference Presentations by Chris Hall
Open Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2023
This paper examines whether teachers in universities can learn from the practices and structures ... more This paper examines whether teachers in universities can learn from the practices and structures of jazz music as they try to prepare students for an uncertain future. It outlines the fundamental characteristics of jazz and how these have been applied by jazz musicians. The paper focuses on four of the building blocks of jazz: improvisation, mistakes, collaboration and leadership, and examines how these translate to university teaching. It concludes that effective learning, like the best jazz, is collaborative and occurs where the freedom to improvise and make mistakes is integral. Additionally, as with the best jazz bands, there must be some structure where the teacher, although leading, is fully involved in the collaborative act of discovery with the learners. The author argues that the lessons learned from jazz should be incorporated in professional development programmes for new university teachers.
Survey Report, University of Swansea. Retrieved …, 2006
Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evid... more Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evidence a 6% decrease in student entry for the academic year 2012/13 compared with 2011/12, it appears timely to consider what students expect to gain from attending university. Such expectations potentially frame their first year experiences – positively or
negatively – which, according to the literature, largely determine performance, with obvious implications for attrition (Upcraft et al. 2005). In the UK, research has positioned the first year experience as being critical for
laying down the foundations of academic study and for developing skills in addressing student employability (Ali 2012). Furthermore, research undertaken for the Australian Learning and Teaching council suggests the first year experience needs to be viewed as ‘transition pedagogy’, involving an approach that scaffolds and mediates the first year learning experience, aiming to support student engagement, success and retention (Kift and Nelson 2005). This paper considers the qualitative findings from an online
pre- and post- entry student survey during the academic year 2012/2013, one of the aims of which was to examine student expectations of what they hoped to gain from attending university in the UK. The methodology adopted an interpretivist stance with the use of constructivist grounded
theory (adapted from the work of Charmaz 2006), in order to explore the research question: ‘What do you expect to gain from attending university?'
Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evid... more Given the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA, 2013) latest figures for the UK, which evidence a 6% decrease in student entry for the academic year 2012/13 compared with 2011/12, it appears timely to consider what students expect to gain from attending university. Such expectations potentially frame their first year experiences – positively or negatively – which, according to the literature, largely determine performance, with obvious implications for attrition (Upcraft et al. 2005). In the UK, research has positioned the first year experience as being critical for laying down the foundations of academic study and for developing skills in addressing student employability (Ali 2012). Furthermore, research undertaken
for the Australian Learning and Teaching council suggests the first year experience needs to be viewed as ‘transition pedagogy’, involving an approach that scaffolds and mediates the first year learning experience, aiming to support student engagement, success and retention (Kift and Nelson 2005). This paper considers the qualitative findings from an online
pre- and post- entry student survey during the academic year 2012/2013, one of the aims of which was to examine student expectations of what they hoped to gain from attending university in the UK. The methodology adopted an interpretivist stance with the use of constructivist grounded
theory (adapted from the work of Charmaz 2006), in order to explore the research question: ‘What do you expect to gain from attending university?’
Although considerable time and effort has been expended in establishing and promoting the use of ... more Although considerable time and effort has been expended in establishing and promoting the use of technology in higher education, it has been argued that many universities have been unable to make any significant improvements beyond those of a small group of innovators. This paper describes the experiences at Swansea University in Wales as they tackled this situation by attempting to utilise and harness the knowledge and experience of the wider academic community and build a Community of Practice around the area of e-Learning.